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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#118: Metamorphosis

Whichever way you look at it, fall is a season of change. The trees are changing color, the waking hours are getting shorter, and the days are growing colder. It also happens to be Halloween, meaning we might need to gear up for some spooktacular supernatural transformations too… if you believe in that sort of thing!

Whether your characters are enjoying the crunch of fallen leaves, or undergoing a creepy metamorphosis of their own, we hope this week’s prompts help you get the best out of fall this year.

This week's prompts

Start your story with “Today’s the day I change.”

Teens – 54 stories

Write about a character, animal or human, who is reborn as something totally different.

High School – 42 stories

Write your story from the perspective of an outsider watching something or someone change.

Middle School – 45 stories

Your character picks up a fallen leaf and can’t believe what they discover underneath it. What happens next?

Fall – 38 stories

Set your story during a sudden change of season.

Fall – 26 stories

Stories

“Breaking All the Rules” by Brenda Butler

Submitted to Contest #118

“Today’s the day I change,” Leaf thought as he laid on the gurney. His entire life for that matter would be changing. He also knew in that moment it would be changing for the bad and not the good. He had to come up with a plan to get out of that attic and away from the Slices. He wanted to survive whatever they had planned for him. He had no one to blame but himself. He read the one house rule and he broke it. He chose this path, but who knew. He wanted to know from Sawn, why him and where are the Slices two daughters. &nbsp...

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“Liberation of Self” by Bahadrhan Cicek

Submitted to Contest #118

Today is the day I change. I was waiting for it for a long time. Days, months, years have passed. Many times I was ready for it, many times I prepared myself but never happened until today. Something was wrong today. My body got heated. My arms and legs were tingling and numb. My soul was leaving me slowly and I was watching myself from the top. It was strange feeling. I have never felt it before. This was liberation. Finally, my soul was getting free and breaking the boundaries of our limited biological cover. Can you imagine a world indepe...

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“ The Metamorphosis” by Lin Darroe

Submitted to Contest #118

Today’s the day I change. I utter these words out loud to my eleven-year-old self in the bathroom mirror. My name is Max Chase and the reason for this about-face is obvious if you know me. Okay, wait. You don’t know me. So I guess I will begin my story here. I live with my Mom and Dad and my kid brother Frankie. Who let’s just say right here and now, does not have to change. Ever. He is the perfect kid. The perfect brother, friend, son, and grandson. Not me. I am too quiet, too sullen, and always seem to...

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“Bad Habits ” by Gigi L' Amoroso

Submitted to Contest #118

TW: eating disorders, sexual content, coarse language “Today’s the day I change...”Priya wiped her tears with my least favourite long sleeve blue high school rugby sweatshirt. “ You have to, or else you won’t be around to even enjoy all the things you’ve worked hard for”, I advised. It comforted me to know this was the last piece of advice I would give as her boyfriend. We just broke up. We ended a four year relationship right in the exact place it started-my favourite breakfast place- The Station. I had already finished cryin...

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“The Promise” by V.L. Ray

Submitted to Contest #118

It was the trees. Always the trees. There's something about sitting in their branches and feeling the breeze caress your cheek and lift your hair away from your face while the leaves whisper their secret language that you can almost understand. I grew up in nature and I always felt a kinship with it. The sun and moon, the deep thickets and open pastures, the crickets and frogs. As a child I believed that when I asked for a breeze on a hot summer day, the trees would oblige, and I'd thank them with a gentle pat or a glass of water when a ...

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“The Rat, the Boy and the Sun” by Zoe Watts

Submitted to Contest #118

(Trigger warning: death of an infant, not too graphic) Death did not bother the boy; he had seen so much of it already. It was el Sol who he truly feared, for el Sol knew this boy, and it knew his story. Being that it shone upon the world, it watched over every living thing: praising the worthy, sympathising with the poor, mourning the dead. It experienced life on an almighty level. It knew every tear, every laugh, every birth, every death. Hunger, thirst, pain, suffering. Chaos. Hence, while it loved the many, it occasionally lo...

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“Her Majesty's Cat” by Soraya Munawari

Submitted to Contest #118

Patrol began at twilight, after every sconce on the walls and every fireplace had been lit to start to warm these cool stone halls. Dinner would be served shortly, but first, to rouse from a seemingly deep sleep where he had actually been sentry beside his Royal Mistress' throne. A languid stretch, the graceful arch of his back, as he ignored the sneaked glances and single open amused stare sent his way as he slipped out of the main audience after another long day of holding court. He felt smug, for none other could get away with behaving ...

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“David” by Michael Regan

Submitted to Contest #118

I once stood here tall and proud. Supplicants from the world over came here to do me homage. But, the world has changed.My name is David and this is my story.I was conceived on a commission by Agostino di Duccio in 1465 in the quarries of Fantiscritti. Master Agostino had taken over a commission from Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi (Donatello) to carve a statue of for the roof line of the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore (Duomo). I was to be one of twelve statues of biblical heroes commissioned to adorn the cathedral.Scarpellini (quarry ...

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“The Change” by Cliff Pratt

Submitted to Contest #118

Hunter forwarded the email on to the Prince’s Private Secretary, with a note. He sighed. The email was business and Harry handled all the business stuff now. He could go down and chat with Harry, and they’d probably have a cup of tea, but Hunter didn’t want to slow down the Prince’s Private Secretary. Harry had a lot more work on these days as the load shifted from Hunter to him. Hunter decided to go to look for his boss instead. *** Hunter found the King in one of the solaria. The King had had a couch brought in, and a computer was mounte...

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“Chrysalis” by Ashley Cullen

Submitted to Contest #118

From the enclosure of my car and at a safe enough distance, I watch. I clutch the paper cup of coffee and blow across it, trying to cool the liquid down. I can feel my stomach tying itself in knots. Across the street, I see the parking lot starting to fill up. The faithful are arriving. Two men exit their cars and move toward each other, wives and children following along like ducklings. I can’t hear what they’re saying but I see their salt water taffy smiles. I witness their hearty handshakes and solid eye contact. They break away from each...

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“The Witness” by Ryan Miller

Submitted to Contest #118

Margaret’s eyelids fluttered open as the water was poured slowly over her face. She attempted to use her hand to wipe the wetness from her eyes, only to feel tension on her wrist, on both wrists. Shaking her head, Margaret managed to shake enough of the water off her face to allow her eyes to open comfortably. The room was dimly lit, and she noticed her bound wrists and ankles, the bindings attaching her to the table propped up against the wall. Margaret’s angle allowed her to see the whole room, the dark and empty space, with a chest in the...

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“A tail of it's own ” by Constanza Lobos

Submitted to Contest #118

Time is not something that exists in our kind. For me, waking up in the dark is natural because I am hungry and going to sleep is almost a sport I enjoy. I have no places to go, my meetings with friends happen spontaneously in the garden at night, and I am proud of the space I occupy in her bed. Her bed is like sleeping on a cloud of blue tones, and her touch on my head is the balm I need to return to my uninterrupted sleep. She is gentle, she takes care of feeding me, and she changes my water. Although, sometimes she can be disrespe...

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“Encounters With a Stranger: A Humorous Prospective” by Barbara Pinkney

Submitted to Contest #118

I feel compelled to share my story about the metamorphosis of the relationship between my lovely daughter and myself, her biological mother. After all the energy my daughter spent, trying not to become everything that I am in this world, I find it humorous, that observing my daughter now is comparable to a stranger looking into a mirror at herself. "God must truly have a sense of humor." I said to myself. Let me start from the beginning. On my fifty-first birthday, the shrill ringing of the telephone, interrupted the gloomy and depressiv...

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“OPPORTUNITIES” by Alyson Hutchinson

Submitted to Contest #118

CW: Death. I kick my feet through the piles of dead, April leaves. They crunch under my feet, the crackling noise scratching an unreachable part of my wounded soul, offering a little relief. My friends have begun referring to me as hopeless. I bet Sean’s friends aren’t bartering for him to leave the house. No, he seemed plenty fine when he packed his bags, no warning and walked out of our engagement, our house, our life. Walked out on me. I huff and trudge further down the path, I’d only gone on this walk to escape my mother, who I had moved...

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“Sea Scales” by Dakota Nugent

Submitted to Contest #118

Risk walked along the coast of the abandoned coastline. Her boat and fellow crew-members were far back at where they made landfall. On their way back to their homeland, the lookout had spotted an unfamiliar island in the distance. Despite traveling this route for years, the Captain had admitted that he’d never even seen such a place. The trees were tall with wide, fan-like leaves that swayed in the gentle wind. The second Risk had set foot on the island, it had felt like the temperature had been raised significantly. Still humid beyond belie...

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$250

Prize money

205

Contest entries

140

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Nov 05, 2021 EST

Won by Myia Melendy 🏆

Title: beneath the quaking aspen

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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